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China Asserts Role in Choosing Dalai Lama

Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, Tibet, a stop foreign journalists made on a strictly managed tour of the Chinese territory.Credit
Adrian Bradshaw/European Pressphoto Agency

SHIGATSE, Tibet — Reincarnations of Tibetan spiritual leaders, including the Dalai Lama, must be approved by the Chinese central government, a senior Communist Party official said. The remarks were among the clearest indications yet that China will appoint a reincarnation of the Dalai Lama after the current Dalai Lama dies, setting off a struggle with exiled leaders of the Chinese territory over Tibetan Buddhism.

The official, Hao Peng, a deputy party secretary and vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, told a small group of foreign journalists that the selection of reincarnations, what the Chinese call “living Buddhas,” must follow a process that was rooted in history and that culminated in approval of the reincarnations by the central government.

“If you understand the history of Tibet, you will find that there are strict historical conventions and religious rituals for the reincarnations of living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism,” Mr. Hao said on Tuesday. “This was determined as early as the Qing dynasty.”

Mr. Hao spoke at a news conference in an ornate reception room of the government offices in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Foreign journalists are usually barred from reporting in Tibet, reflecting the anxieties of the governing Communist Party over its control here. The Foreign Ministry is taking a group on a carefully managed five-day tour of central Tibet.

Mr. Hao’s remarks were echoed on Thursday by Nianzha, a senior monk at Tashilhunpo Monastery here in Shigatse. The monastery is the seat of power of the Panchen Lama, the second-ranking lama of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, behind the Dalai Lama. Nianzha is the director of the monastery committee that deals with the government, and he told the journalists that the Chinese government had properly appointed an 11th Panchen Lama in 1995 through the same process that is expected to be used to find the next Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader.

The reincarnation of the Panchen Lama “was searched, identified and confirmed in strict accordance with the religious rituals and historical conventions,” said Nianzha, who like many Tibetans goes by one name.

The Tibetan government-in-exile in India says the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama is a fraud. It says the real one, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who was endorsed by the Dalai Lama, was abducted with his family in 1995 by the Chinese government and has not been seen since. He was 6 at the time and is called “the world’s youngest political prisoner” by Tibet advocacy groups.

Like the Panchen Lama dispute, the selection of a reincarnation of the Dalai Lama by the Chinese would create a scenario of dueling Dalai Lamas, because the 14th Dalai Lama and Tibetan exiles in India are already discussing how they will choose the next Dalai Lama. The 14th Dalai Lama turns 75 this month and has had bouts of ill health, including recent problems with his eyesight, though he still keeps a brisk travel schedule around the globe. He has said all options are open for selecting his reincarnation.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party, which is officially atheist, insists that religious traditions be followed. Mr. Hao said that there were two crucial steps in the process: the name of the reincarnated lama must be chosen from several rods with names put into a ceremonial vessel, the Golden Urn, and the child selected from that must be approved by the central government. In 2007, the Chinese government quietly passed a law that said all “living Buddhas” must be approved by Beijing.

The Golden Urn is a relic possessed by China that was used occasionally by the Manchu emperors of the Qing dynasty to anoint Tibetan lamas in their efforts to exert control over Tibet. Mr. Hao and Nianzha both say the current Panchen Lama is legitimate because he was selected through the Golden Urn ceremony and then approved by Beijing. Chinese officials had announced the ceremony in order to overrule the Dalai Lama’s endorsement of the boy found by a search party led by Chadrel Rinpoche, the abbot of Tashilhunpo Monastery.

Another senior abbot who now lives in the United States and witnessed the Golden Urn ceremony, Arjia Rinpoche, said recently that a Chinese official told him in 1995 that the government had fixed the ceremony so a boy they liked, Gyaincain Norbu, would be chosen. That boy has grown up in Beijing, and he visited Tibet last month. Chinese officials trot him out on ceremonial occasions.

Meanwhile, the boy endorsed by the Dalai Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, is still missing, along with his family and Chadrel Rinpoche, the abbot. They all disappeared in May 1995.

Mr. Hao was asked about the young man’s whereabouts.

“We know that he is studying now and living in quite good conditions,” he said. “His family members and him do not want to be disrupted in their normal life. We have to respect their wishes, so that’s why we don’t arrange visits with the young man.”

A version of this article appears in print on July 2, 2010, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: China Asserts Role in Choosing Dalai Lama. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe